wh40khomebrewfandomcom-20200215-history
House Krowfeather
House Krowfeather is one of the many honorable Imperial Knight Houses of the Questor Imperialis allegiance. The honor and duty-bound Knights of House Krowfeather are grim warriors, deadly adepts of melee and ranged combat. Each Knight strives to achieve martial perfection in their Exosuit Walkers, bonding with their machine far more than many other Knight Houses. Before the Cicatrix Maledictum tore the galaxy asunder, a regular hunting competition was held to keep the skills of the Knights sharp through the ages. Once called The Reaping, this hunt provided sport and experience facing the large creatures of Vastab Orba. In addition to these competitions, Knights were also honored for their battlefield accomplishments. Combined, these two traditions produce righteous warriors with vitality and ferocity to defeat the most harrowing of the Imperium's enemies. As with many Knight Households, the forefathers of House Krowfeather were the original colonists of their homeworld, Vastab Orba. Located within Segmentum Ultima and south of Molov, it was once the noble house's home. The world also was inhabited by gargantuan avian creatures known as the Corbuleaux. The ancient legends say that during these times, the colonists could only make use of ballistae of great size and designed to shoot down the terrifying and terrorizing monsters. The greatest of these archers' ranks was Estrid Korvem, the Krowfeather. With terrifying accuracy matched by none other of the world, Estrid slew many of the monsters before enough materials were collected to construct a Knight from its STC. Estrid became the first to pilot the Knight Exoskeleton, taking upon herself the name of her title, establishing the noble House Krowfeather. The Knights of House Krowfeather utilize all variants of Imperial Knight configurations, opting for the complete mastery of all forms rather than the specialization of certain skills. It is not uncommon for Knights in the Household to have an obsession with becoming familiar with all the weapons in the house's armories, something they have inherited from their forebears in the Household's founding; but it is also similarly not uncommon for some within the Household to instead choose to specialize in a singular method of battle, especially for Knight Exoskeletons that are newer and without the millennia of traditions and tempering. The motto of House Krowfeather is "Reap Destruction Sowed, Righteous Purpose be." A grim reminder that the enemies of man were doomed to oblivion inflicted upon themselves for their treachery and the affirmation of the high standards of the household. House History Founded by Lord Estrid Krowfeather in the 26th Millennium during the Dark Age of Technology, House Krowfeather has a long history in duty to the Imperium, and may boast some of the most righteous warriors to sit upon the Throne Mechanicum. All Knights of the household are skilled in the hunting and slaying of those capable of flight, a gift from the memories of the Knight Exoskeletons since the eradication of the Corbuleaux, the skill and discipline required to kill the large avians passed through the ghostly memories of the ancient machines. In their earliest histories upon Vastab Orba, the early human colonists lacked the means to utilize their Knight STCs, unable to establish mining operations to acquire the components to craft the adamantium required for the exoskeletons. Instead, massive greatbows with large arrows were fashioned to protect the mines and the settlements from the Corbuleaux. With these mighty flying lances, the settlers defended themselves against the gargantuan avians. The greatest of their numbers was Estrid Korvem, who held the impressive feet of slaying 4 Corbuleaux with one shot each before becoming the first ruler of the new House Krowfeather. When the Knight Suits were completed, the fledgling house set out to slay every last one of the gargantuan beasts and solidify humanity's grip on the soil, and have never forgotten these roots. Alongside the Noble House are a group of auxiliaries known as the Redwing Guard. These soldiers were originally drawn from the world's penitentiaries as a use for the hated criminals, sent alongside the House on the battlefield to die in support of the House. For millennia House Krowfeather discarded their lives into battle against the foes of the Imperium, using them as little more than fodder. This would eventually change, and the Noble House began to see these souls as brave and noble in their own right after experiencing the selflessness of some of their rank. Onward into the 42nd Millennium, the Knights of House Krowfeather demand the respect and terror of their foes with their deadly precision and righteous zeal. Despite the loss of their homeworld to the Great Rift, the House is still strong, though scattered to all corners of the galaxy. They seek to ultimately reunite, but along that path they fight on to protect the Imperium from its foes. Vastab Orba, Planet of Avians and Death The world of Vastab Orba is a dreary and grim world. Nearly perpetually covered in clouds, every waking moment is covered in an ever-present darkness. While this means there is plenty of liquid water for the populations, when the clouds part to let the sun shine through, the sun burns at their more pallid skin with harmful radiation. Great mountain ranges that often exceed 8.5 kilometers in height are in abundance on the surface of the Vastab Orba, and are mineral-rich. In fact, the majority of raw materials are underneath the mountains of the world. However, these mountain ranges are guarded by massive avian creatures known as the Corbuleaux. Large black feathered creatures that resemble Ancient Terran crows or ravens. These avians have thick coats of feathers, talons that can rend machinery apart, and beaks hard enough to pierce ceramite. They make their nests in the great mountains of the world, and reacted violently to human attempts to mine the materials out of from under them. The Extermination of the Corbuleaux In the earliest years of colonization, the human settler sentries of Vastab Orba clung to the weapons they held and eyes glued to the skies. While not as terrifying nor destructive as the Dragons that once populated Dragon's End, the Corbuleaux were ferocious creatures. The most terrifying behavioral pattern of the Corbuleaux was to circle the sky above its prey, waiting for the moment to swoop down and claim it. More often than not this meant that they were a common sight flying overhead. However, crisis would eventually come to the settlers, who were more and more requiring the materials under the mountains. So they were forced to create weapons to try and slay the Corbuleaux. Weapons to Surpass Gargantuan Crows Their earliest attempts were to modify their current weapons like the lasgun to try and penetrate the thick coat of feathers, but were met with the limitations of the users' skill with the weapon and the lack of penetrating power of the lasgun. The situation was even more dire with the lack of defensive anti-air weaponry, as the settlers had no military connections. Because of their lack of resources, they were forced to take what they had and try and build new weapons from it. The first of which was the Corvid Carronade, a handful of autocannon-like guns welded together into one battery. However, its ammunition proved too costly and was without much success for too long to warrant continued production. The second creation was the Maulershot Helgun, designed to use a spread patter to ensure a hit by covering a wide area of effect. Multiple times it proved itself in concept, but the penetrating power of the spread shots was insufficient in piercing the feather coats of the Corbuleaux, and often times resulted in the enraged retaliation of the creatures without causing much damage in return. The third creation was the Drakeblaster Battery, a rocket battery which fired explosives into the air to blow them out of the skies. This weapons did see some success, being the cause of death for nearly four Corbuleaux. However, the explosive projectiles were more expensive than the Corvid Carronade shots, and more often than not momentarily stunned the Corbuleaux than anything else. The fourth creation was Corbuleaux Talonbolt Accelerator. With the recovery of the talons of the few Corbuleax slain by the Drakeblaster Batteries, the colonists discovered the capabilities of the beasts' sickle-like talons. Fashioning great bolts from the talons, they also developed the great ballistae devices that would fire them. The Talonbolt Accelerators proved most effective in the slaying of the Corbuleaux, capable of penetrating the coat of feathers and the skin beneath, driving itself deep within to pierce the heart. However, no bolt was quite as powerful as one made from the beaks of the massive creatures. The Krowfeather Once the Corbuleaux Talonbolt Accelerator was proven to be effective, the ancient colonists established an academy dedicated to the training of youths to combat the Corbuleaux, to aim true and strike them down at their heart. One such youth was Estrid Korvem, the most distinguished and accomplished in the academia's history. She was trained in the usage of the Talonbolt Accelerator, having volunteered to assist in the defense of the colonists. While not the first to claim one of the gargantuan creature's lives, the story of her first kill was fantastical all the same. During a training exercise with her fellow trainees, Estrid's training group came under the assault of not just any normal Corbuleaux, but a particularly scarred creature whose ferocity had claimed hundreds of lives in past. Being trainees, part of their escort through training was a Talonbolt Accelerator with two Talonbolts mounted on a small vehicle, the projectiles still exceedingly rare and coveted. It descended upon the trainees of the Academia, and claimed many lives, killing the escorts first. After 24 hours of being hunted by the creature, Estrid managed to get her hands on one of the two Talonbolts, the other was recovered by another Trainee, Duae Ullim. Trainee Ullim had also mounted the escort vehicle, loading a Talonbolt and taking aim. Category:Imperium Category:Imperial Knight Houses Category:Imperial Knights